Heap has been reluctant to say exactly what inspired this song, but most of what she's said indicates that she wrote this song about the separation of her parents when she was 12 and her father finding a new wife. "Crop circles in the carpet" means the furniture has been moved out and all that is left are crop circle imprints. "Oily marks appear on walls where pleasure moments hung before" means photos have been taken down. All signs that someone is moving out of the home. Heap has called the images "a collection of childhood memories."
This is an a cappella song that Heap came up with after her computer died on her. With no computer to work on, she decided to try a piece of equipment she hadn't yet used to work on a song: a harmonizer. She used the processing device hooked up to her keyboard to come up with a melody, which happened very quickly around 2 a.m. She recorded a rough demo, which she faithfully recreated in the studio.
In 2005, this was used in a climactic scene from the season 2 finale ("The Dearly Beloved") of The O.C. when the character Marissa shoots Trey, who is trying to kill Ryan. In 2007, the song was used in a Saturday Night Live digital short with Shia LaBeouf that parodied the scene.
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